


Sparring

by StrawFairy



Series: Do Not Underestimate Tony Fuckin' Stark [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Gen, Genius Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26501971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawFairy/pseuds/StrawFairy
Summary: When the Avengers are told they will start sparring with each other they were fine with it. All but Tony, that's it.
Relationships: Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Series: Do Not Underestimate Tony Fuckin' Stark [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926763
Comments: 10
Kudos: 171





	Sparring

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I had to post this from my phone so please comment any problems on the format.

Despite not showing it, Tony Stark was nervous. SHIELD, in all its wisdom, had decided the Avengers needed to spar with each other regularly. Which, yes, it was a good idea. It also put Tony in a difficult position. Tony Stark didn’t do sparring. He couldn’t spar with people, period. He was a disaster at it and he didn’t look forward to his teammates finding out his problem, they’d never look at him the same. Tony sighed and squared his shoulders. It wouldn’t do good to show how nervous he was right now. Not in front of SHIELD. 

He arrived at the training area, dragging his feet and walking as slowly as he could. Everyone was there already, looking at him with exasperation. 

“I see you finally made it Stark. Now we can start with this.” Fury scowled at him. 

Tony resisted the urge to complain. He would need to focus if he didn’t want to screw this up. They randomly decided the order and pairs of sparring hand to hand. When Tony saw he was the last one and paired with Steve, he relaxed a bit. Steve was a super soldier, that’d make this both easier and more difficult, but he would manage. 

He was wrong, he couldn’t manage. As Tony avoided yet another punch of Steve by a wide margin, he realized he was losing this battle. He still clung to it by sheer stubbornness and worry, but the moment a punch got too close to his middle, his focus shifted. He was in combat mode right now. All that mattered was to neutralize the enemy. 

Tony shifted his posture to make it right and attacked for the first time. He feinted once, twice, and then struck true. The powerful strike to the neck would have been enough to break the neck of a normal human, as a super soldier, it only made Steve lose balance, hands on his neck, trying to breathe again. Tony didn’t let Steve recover and spun around, kicking him on the back of his knees and then on the back, Steve fell to the floor, still trying to recover his breath. Tony heard someone talking but paid it no mind and kicked Steve on the back of his head once, twice, thrice. 

His reflexes saved him. Someone attacked him from behind and he spun around, catching Natasha’s wrist and twisting it. He broke it, but she only grunted in pain and attacked him again. He matched her blows with twice her strength and before she realized it she was on the floor. Tony was about to kick her neck when someone else stepped in. Clint, they were almost matched in strength, but Tony was faster and broke his ankle, making him lose balance. It was the only opening Tony needed to finish him. But he was interrupted once again, this time by Thor. 

Thor grabbed him so he wasn’t able to move and screamed at him before he could start trying to get out of the tight grip. “Friend Tony! Stop this madness! Come to your senses!” This time Tony heard it, the adrenaline leaving him instantly when he realized with horror what he had done. It must have shown in his face because Thor let him go, although he didn’t leave his side, as if to make sure Tony wouldn’t attack anyone again. Tony wanted to run away. But Thor stopped him. “Friend Tony, I insist you explain yourself!” 

Tony looked down and sighed. “I… I’m sorry. I…” He shook his head. There was no excuse. 

“Tony… We need to know what happened so we can make sure it doesn’t happen again. You looked… Well, you looked as if you weren’t yourself, you didn’t listen to us, it seemed as if you weren’t able to do it.” Bruce spoke, coming closer to him, eyes looking at him in concern. It made Tony feel even worse, he didn’t deserve concern. 

Steve, Natasha and Clint got up and sat down on the benches, the three looking at Tony warily. 

“We’d like an explanation too, Tony. That was not nice.” Steve said, wincing when he rubbed the back of his head. 

Tony breathed deeply and nodded. “I… When I was four, I made my first circuit.” Everyone nodded at that and gestured to him to keep explaining. “Well, good old dad thought it meant people would get more interested in me, so he got Aunt Peggy to organize self-defense lessons for me. Her contacts were… Well, assassins. They taught me since then the only way to win a fight was… Y’know, killing the opponent, it’s still difficult to not kill people when they attack me and I don’t have the suit to fight at a distance. That’s why Happy is my bodyguard, so my instincts wouldn’t make me accidentally kill someone.” 

Natasha looked at him with a contemplative expression. She was evaluating what she knew of him, or thought she knew and analyzing it, comparing it with her recent information and trying to reach to a conclusion. When she spoke, her words were calculated and light. “So you’ve been trained by assassins since you were four?” 

Tony didn’t react to her scrutiny with an ability fruit of years of practice and just nodded, shrugging. “Yeah.” 

“Why haven’t I heard anything about this?” Fury demanded to know, scowl prominent in his face. Tony had forgotten he was there. 

Tony shrugged. “Aunt Peggy was discreet about it, and so were my teachers. Rhodey, Happy and Pepper know and now you know too. But I don’t want this information to spread around. I… I’m sorry about what I did, I tried to not let my fight mode take over, but it didn’t end well.” 

Steve sighed. “I see, Tony, you didn’t have to hide this, it’s how you were trained. We only need to train you to stop killing- wait, have you killed hand to hand?” 

Tony did his best to not show his relief at those words of acceptance and nodded again, appearing nonchalant. “A lot, yes. The first time I killed I was seven, my second kidnapping and the first one where I escaped by myself. Since then, most of my kidnappers ended dead one way or another.” 

Silence followed that statement until Clint broke it. “Damn, just how many times someone has kidnapped you?” 

Tony quickly counted in his head at that question. “Fifteen.” 

Their eyes widened and Tony wondered how Natasha hadn’t known about it until now, but it was Bruce who spoke. “That’s quite a lot.” 

Tony snorted, “Tell me about it.” 

“Well, this is something we have to work on, don’t worry, we will beat that habit out of you.” 

“I don’t know why I don’t feel reassured by that.” Tony joked, but upon seeing his friends’ faces, he relaxed. They weren’t angry or disgusted by him. He could do this. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my lovely betas Eleave and Sarcadae!


End file.
